Richard O’Brien today. Photo: TIffani Bourque
By Tiffani Bourque
Richard “Obie” O’Brien has jumped out of an airplane 23 times.
Now 77, the Vietnam veteran has spent the last seven years pursuing a passion for skydiving, an unlikely pastime for a man who spent more than a year surrounded by the dangers of war. O’Brien took his first leap at age 70, following the loss of his wife, Sandra, during one of the most difficult periods of his life.
“Once I jumped, I was hooked,” O’Brien said.
But O’Brien’s story is about much more than war or jumping from airplanes. It is about a young Marine who returned home carrying memories that would never leave him, a husband and father who built a life in Springvale, and a man who continues to find joy in the people and experiences around him.
O’Brien was just 17 when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1966. Growing up in a family with limited financial means, he struggled with the social pressures of high school and saw military service as an opportunity to make his own way.
“I told my mother I wanted to go into the Marines. If I didn’t enlist and choose my own branch of the military, I knew I’d be drafted anyway,” he recalled.
His mother reluctantly signed the paperwork, and on Nov. 18, 1966, O’Brien entered the Marine Corps.
By June 1969, he was in Vietnam.
Moments after landing in Vietnam, O’Brien gave out all the candy his mother sent him to local children. Photo from: Richard O’Brien
A corporal who received aviation training, O’Brien served with the 1st Marine Division for much of his deployment. His responsibilities included responding to downed aircraft and searching for survivors in the dense Vietnamese jungle.
When helicopters or planes crashed, O’Brien and other Marines would head into unfamiliar terrain, sometimes climbing steep hills and navigating thick vegetation to locate those aboard.
On one mission to Hill 327 in central Vietnam, O’Brien recalled searching for a downed airman when enemy fire erupted, pinning down his group near rice paddies for several hours.
Other memories include sniper fire, mortar attacks and nights when enemy troops entered the Marines’ camp, forcing the men from their beds with little warning. “I had to throw my boots on, my pants, my flak jacket and my M16,” he recalled. “And that was it.”
The heat, humidity and mosquitoes were relentless. Even ordinary activities, such as eating a meal or sleeping, gave way to sudden danger. “There were no days off,” O’Brien said. “It’s 24/7.”
There were losses, too. O’Brien remembers fellow Marines who were killed or seriously wounded, including a close friend who died during an attack on a bunker. Those memories have remained with him for more than half a century. “You counted your days over there,” he said.
Eager to reunite with his wife and young daughter, O’Brien returned to the United States in July 1970, flying into Boston before taking a Greyhound bus to Wells and hitchhiking the rest of the way home. “There were no homecomings for us,” he said.
Like other Vietnam veterans, O’Brien returned to a country deeply divided over the war. He remembers the criticism directed toward returning servicemen and the absence of the recognition afforded to veterans of earlier conflicts.
One memory from his return remains particularly painful. Walking along Jackson Street in Sanford, O’Brien passed the home of a fellow Marine who had been killed. The young man’s mother and sisters were still living there. O’Brien, overwhelmed by his own relief at being home, walked past without stopping. Even today, he hopes the family did not see another Marine coming home. He says he still thinks about Vietnam every day. Fireworks, lightning and unexpected noises can bring back memories, and restless sleep has remained difficult.
Back in Maine, where he worked as a textile mill worker, he and Sandra raised two daughters and two sons, building a home and a family despite the financial challenges of their early years. Today, his four adult children live in various parts of New England, and his family has grown to include seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Asked what his 17-year-old self who enlisted in the Marines would think of the life he eventually built, O’Brien answered without hesitation. “I think he’d be very happy.”
His greatest challenge was Sandra’s death in 2019. “My biggest defeat was the loss of my wife,” he said. O’Brien spoke openly about the loneliness of returning to an empty house and missing the person with whom he had shared so much of his life. He continues to honor Sandra on birthdays, holidays and their wedding anniversary.
It was following her death that he discovered skydiving. What began as a new experience became something he wanted to do again and again. Now, he enjoys sharing that adventure with others, sometimes helping people who otherwise could not afford to try it.
His friend Melinda Page, who has known him for over five years, said his generosity extends far beyond the skies. “He thinks of other people before himself,” Page said. Page describes O’Brien as someone who remembers birthdays, arrives with flowers and regularly shares vegetables from his garden. He also makes brownies that have become something of a favorite among his friends.
Although O’Brien is usually relaxed and quick to joke, Page said he does not hesitate to speak up when he believes someone is being treated unfairly. “He sticks up for people,” she said.
O’Brien has never allowed the war to become the entirety of his story. “Every day I get up, I am thankful,” he said.
And perhaps that is what makes the image of him stepping toward the open door of an airplane so fitting for a man who knows what it means to live with fear and loss. Despite the pain, a world with new experiences awaits him and he is not finished living in it.
Tiffani Bourque is a Community Reporting Fellow receiving training through the Journalism New England Career Lab to do civic reporting that provides people in towns across New England with the information they need to be engaged in their community.
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